Which is why I laugh when many Americans consider Putin a "very bad guy" that can't possibly be a friend to any of their leaders. The fake outrage from the media is facepalm worthy.

No matter what u think about Erdogan, he is one of the most influential man on this planet right now.

Sadly or lucky, all Arab/Turkey states slowly turn into islamism, and ... this is democratic process...

I wouldn't really call it democratic. Erdogan solitified his power by taking advantage of the failed/fake (I'm not sure which of the two it is) coup and arresting a whole bunch of dissenters. Another tactic that they're doing with the referendum is adding good amendments with bad ones: for example compulsory military service will be eliminated if the referendum is passed, so it forces the people to decide whether or not the amendments will be a detriment or a benefit for them.

Yup. He's rigging it. 

Turks brought peace to the Middle East and South East Europe for centuries. When the Europeans started colonizing it, it fell to civil war within decades. From the Yugoslav, Kosovo conflicts, to the sectarian problems in Yemen. Turks managed them all.

This arrogance and ignorance you show about the region is the same as the white man showed around the start of the 20th century. Educate yourself before giving your 2 cents.

Any stable empire brings peace to its core lands, given a long enough period of time. Once you get to the periphery, you end up with a rather messy situation depending on your neighbors and other great powers and even the attitude of the borderlands toward the central authority.

I can say the same about the Eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantines) that came before it, for instance. Or the Persian Empire(s) that sprang up and even rivaled the Ottomans for some time after their Turkic/Mongol night. Or Austria(-Hungary). Or even the Russian Empire and its successor, the USSR.

The problem, of course, is that they all have one thing in common: they are large land empires with a large contingent of its primary culture (Turkish for the Ottomans, (Austrian) German for the Austria, Russian for the Russian Empire/USSR and so on) to administrate as well as tolerance for other cultures within (so no mass genocides unless necessary --- they cause civil wars and instability in regions where those populations have sizeable influence).

By the way, jihad is sanctioned by the Koran. So, both of you are partially correct. After all, it is a matter of enforcing the rules.

But you Turks can't act all blameless, either. It's not as if you had anything with the Greeks and Armenians, nope. Nuh-uh. Let's memory-hole that, shall we...

The Sauds and the West fear Turkey. The Ottoman Empire was no joke and they don't want anything remotely as powerful, even if it's good as they will see it as a threat. 

As you said, the Ottomans did what most of human civilisations couldn't do which is bring peace in the middle east and unite people. The likes of ISIS, AlQaeeda etc have grown from the west meddling in things they don't know off and going for quick wins. 

Also, let's not forget buried history. The secular leader in Turkey that was put in charge and hailed a hero by the west. The people he tortured, took basics rights away from, prisoned and killed. Yes, they weren't reporters, but the fact they were mostly civilians makes it worse. 

What happened at the end of the Ottoman Empire and rise of nationalism is unfortunate but it doesn't negate the fact that they lived peacefully for centuries. The Ottomans were the first true multicultural society. Jews, Muslims, Christians lived peacefully from Thessaloniki(read about its Jewish Ottoman culture) to co-existence of the religions in Jerusalem.

In fact Istanbul had a huge Christian and Jewish population until the end. All this wouldn't have happened if the Ottomans didn't allow for this co-existence to happen. The Ottomans had they wished, could have forcefully converted their subjects, like it happened in other empires around the world.

The dream collapsed when outside forces got greedy and destabilized the Ottoman regions. They would all be for the better if they kept on being administrated with the Millet system.

It's a really interesting story, the collapse of the Ottomans resulted in all the misery of today. Saudi Arabia is funding worldwide terrorism now, but they wouldn't be if they weren't getting rich with oil.

Agreed.

If the Ottomans existed today, they would be a superpower only behind the US and Europe. They would control all of the oil, and since they controlled the oil, there wouldn't be a Saudi Arabia funded terrorism problem.

It's a shame the West made such a mess of the middle east, now they're paying the price of a destabilized region leaking thousands of unhappy people.

I agree with you until the part that you italicized. Were the janissaries really that inflitrated by foreign influences, or am I looking at something that was started years prior? Or are you referring to that said rise of nationalism?

That said, maybe the Mosul vilayet should have been given to Turkey instead of being requisitioned by the British. And pan-Arabian nationalism would have resultred in a united Arabian state anyway, but it really could have gone better.

CIA honors world's greatest sponsor of terrorism with terrorism award

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/02/10/CIA-awards-Saudi-Crown-Prince-for-efforts-against-terrorism-.html

Where's the hysteria?